


see us as we are

by bapaldeul



Series: the breakfast club au [1]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - The Breakfast Club Fusion, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Happy ending I guess?, Implied Sexual Content, Implied Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, they are teens and don't make the best decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 21:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14197968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bapaldeul/pseuds/bapaldeul
Summary: “I’m not being mean, I’m being real. The world has its fair share of fake people, and I’m not going to add on to that number.”five high school students find out just how much they have in common in their imperfect lives after spending eight hours in detention with each other on a saturdaythe breakfast club au





	see us as we are

**Author's Note:**

> before you proceed i just want to elaborate on some parts of the story that might not be comfortable for people to read!
> 
> implied underage sex/drug use/child abuse is discussed lightly through the main character's conversations although it is not graphic or explicit. please proceed only if you are comfortable with that!
> 
> the characters here are teenagers in high school, they're not perfect, and they make bad decisions.
> 
> but that's youth, isn't it? 
> 
> please enjoy and leave a comment/feedback afterwards if you liked it! :D

Minhyun feels the car skid to a stop, but he remains unfazed. It’s only when he realizes that the car has stopped moving, that he lifts his gaze up to see a tall, lanky boy giving them the finger. Except he’s smiling with his teeth, like he doesn’t care that he almost got knocked down. Minhyun’s too shocked to respond, and so is his mother.

 

The boy doesn’t get a reaction out of any of them, so he leaves, with a smile still plastered on his face and bounds off, backpack slinging off one shoulder and he waves to the janitor by the main gate.

 

“I can’t believe this is the kind of people that you’re going to school with,” he hears his mother mutter under her breath and Minhyun finally looks away from the boy. He grabs his backpack that’s sitting on his lap, and prepares to get out of the car.

 

“Wait, Minhyun,” his mother calls out. His back muscles tense, and he slouches back into his seat, refusing to look at his mother. Maybe it’s because he knows what she’s going to say, and they’re both better off if she doesn’t open her mouth at all.

 

“Your father will be coming back for dinner tonight,” she says after a long pause. Minhyun doesn’t even react – he’s learnt to not let things like this get to him anymore. “He’s worried about you, so we’re going to have a talk tonight, okay?”

 

Minhyun doesn’t understand why she pretends like his father coming over will magically solve everything and he’s suddenly going to be okay with everything. He sees another kid walking into the main gate, and grabs his backpack again, ready to leave.

 

He feels his mother’s hand on his shoulder and a breath escapes his lips.

 

“It’s only eight hours, hang in there. Alright?”

 

Minhyun decides he can’t listen to her words of sympathy anymore. No, she isn’t sympathizing with him. She’s pitying him, which is exactly what he doesn’t need right now. So, he does the most logical thing.

 

He unlocks the car door and slams it shut and doesn’t look back, not even once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“ _Jesus_ ,” Daniel’s father curses as he brakes, throwing Daniel and his sports bag to the front. Fortunately, he has quick reflexes and manages to save his face from getting smashed into the windscreen. Daniel cranes his neck to see what had caused the commotion, and he sees a tall boy flashing the finger to the driver in front.

 

“I’ll get going,” Daniel announces. Having his dad sending him to school is already awkward enough, and honestly, if Daniel has to spend another minute in the car with him, he’s going to choke himself.

 

“Daniel,” his father says and he groans internally. “We all make mistakes.”

 

 _Not this stupid talk again._ Daniel wishes his parents would yell at him and ground him like normal parents. Instead, they keep giving him _“the talk”_ where all teenagers make mistakes, and all that _your past doesn’t define who you are_ bullshit.

 

Daniel knows he’s a terrible person. He just needs someone other than his conscience to tell him that – or he’s going to keep doing shitty things to people to make himself feel bigger than others.

 

“Your mother and I talked with the principal and he’s cool with the whole fiasco. Your scholarship is safe and you’re still in the team,” his dad informs, like Daniel doesn’t already know. “As long as you complete this eight hours in detention.”

 

Like eight hours in detention is going to erase what he did.

 

“Okay, dad,” Daniel manages. Cool, friendly and amicable. That’s just how his family has raised him to be. “I’ll get going, and go for my match later at night.”

 

“Got you, buddy,” his dad pats him on his shoulder for encouragement. “Do your best.”

 

Daniel smiles. It’s something he knows will get him his way. He smiles at strangers so that they’ll be friends with him, he smiles at his teammates so that they’ll vote for him to be captain, and he smiles at girls just so that they’ll like him.

 

It’s just a shame that he can never smile when he really wants to. Daniel wants to smile at a boy, wants to smile when a boy kisses him on the lips and when he finally gets to call someone his boyfriend.

 

“I will, dad,” Daniel flashes his father a thumbs up. And the bright smile he gets from his father in return is enough to make his stomach churn again.

 

That’s just who he is.

 

Perfect on the outside, but a monster on the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sungwoon usually likes silence. He likes it when he can only hear the sound of his own breath, and the occasional cars passing by at three in the morning. Silence is a double-edged sword. In this moment, the silence is deafening.

 

Sungwoon holds his books closer to his chest, like they’re some sort of protection from the outside world. He doesn’t miss the flash of disappointment that crosses his parent’s eyes when they turn back from the front seat to look at him.

 

“Go, and reflect,” his mother says dismissively.

 

But can Sungwoon blame her? Every kid that ends up in detention has done something to warrant eight hours in the school’s library on a Saturday. Even him. Good old nerdy, unassuming and almost invisible Ha Sungwoon.

 

His hands are shaky – and he doesn’t know why when he unlocks the car door. He wants his parents to say something like study well or remember that you have a lesson tonight and something related to grades. But all they give is silence, and that’s all Sungwoon takes.

 

“Bye,” he manages before letting himself out of the car.

 

Sungwoon really shouldn’t be blaming anyone else for his mistakes – but he’d like to think that it’s his parents’ fault he’s in detention. _Them and their fucking unrealistic expectations and-_

 

He doesn’t get any further, because his books get knocked out of his hands and are strewn all over the floor.

 

“Whoops,” he hears a voice beside him. “Clumsy me.”

 

Sungwoon is about to say something like “it’s fine” because that’s just the diplomatic and peace-loving person that he is until the same voice snorts and adds, “What’s a nerd like you doing in detention?”

 

Sungwoon figures he’s already in detention anyway, so he can afford to be a little more bad than usual.

 

“None of your fucking business,” Sungwoon kneels down to get his books, already feeling smaller than before, noticing how awkward he’d sounded cursing out loud and not in his head. He wishes the guy would just go away and leave him alone, because he’s not in the mood to argue.

 

“Feisty, aren’t we?” the boy notices and Sungwoon finally looks up at him. He’s never seen this boy around. (and it might or might not be due to the fact that he keeps his gaze down low in school all the time.) When Sungwoon doesn’t reply, the boy’s smile only widens as he watches Sungwoon try to retrieve all his books.

 

“Here,” a deeper voice comes from behind just as Sungwoon stands up and the owner of the voice hands him his physics textbook. Sungwoon doesn’t even have the chance to say “thanks” when the boy walks away, and the rude boy only smirks at him.

 

Rolling his eyes for good measure, Sungwoon decides to forget about this small trip up and wastes no time in following the nicer boy up the steps, and into the library.

 

It’s going to be a long eight hours, he can feel it right down to his bones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon strolls even though he’s late. He’s late because he got out of bed late, forgot to bring his earphones with him and went back to get it, and forgot his lunch and went back home a second time to fetch it. But he’s here, he’s always here.

 

You know it’s Saturday when the janitor is waiting for Jihoon at the main gate, and even passes him a packet of biscuits he’d taken from the teacher’s lounge.

 

“Looks like a full house today,” the janitor, smiles as Jihoon gratefully accepts the biscuits. He knows all about that stranger danger shit, but he’s also sure that the janitor knows Jihoon is more dangerous than all of the drug lords in the country combined. They just have an unspoken alliance.

 

Jihoon hums in response, and even gives the janitor a little wave as he bounds up the stairs.

 

The janitor is right, it’s a full house Saturday detention today, which surprises him. He can already hear yelling from the library two floors down, and from that he can make out Ong Seongwoo’s ever annoying sneer.

 

 _This is going to be fun_ , Jihoon thinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Welcome to my crib,” Seongwoo announces as he strolls into the library, which is surprisingly packed today. None of the three students there are smiling at him, the jock from before even rolls his eyes and continues talking to a neat looking boy two seats away.

 

At a table diagonally behind the two, the nerd already has his head buried into his books. Seongwoo thinks it would be nice, to have an interest in studying. Unfortunately, he is Ong Seongwoo, and his only interest is pissing the fuck out of people.

 

So, he goes up to the neat looking boy.

 

“Hey pretty, I’ve never seen you around,” Seongwoo says, leaning in front of the boy, their noses almost touching. The boy doesn’t look flustered at first, but Seongwoo’s eye catches the lightest of reds tinge the ends of his ears. “Want to tell me why you’re gracing all of us with your presence this lovely Saturday morning?”

 

“I don’t talk to people like you,” the boy has a pretty soothing voice, fitting of his pretty face. Seongwoo is intrigued by his false sense of confidence and deduces this must be his first time in detention.

 

“Don’t worry,” Seongwoo replies without missing a beat. “Soon, you will.”

 

He reaches out to pat the boy’s hair, then gets stopped.

 

“Don’t touch him,” the jock stands up and holds his outreached hand in the air. “I’ll break your jaw if you do.”

 

It’s funny, that Seongwoo doesn’t feel the least bit intimidated by the boy glaring at him right now. His gaze shifts from the soft boy (he’s going to mentally call him that until he gets the soft boy’s name) to the jock.

 

“ _Do it_ ,” Seongwoo challenges. “Let’s see if a dog like you has any bite at all.”

 

The jock obviously seems taken aback by his behaviour, everyone that meets Ong Seongwoo for the first time is in for a real ride. He feels a pair of strong hands grab his collar and bring him closer.

 

Before the jock can say anything else, Seongwoo hears the library door unlock and glances back.

 

He smiles, but it doesn’t get returned.

 

“Hey sweets,” Seongwoo announces to the newbies as the boy in a black hoodie appears in the room. Seongwoo knows that Jihoon has seen too much – maybe that’s why he doesn’t even bat an eyelid at the jock holding him by his collar right now. “You want to introduce yourself? Or I can do it for you.”

 

Jihoon doesn’t say anything. Jihoon never says anything to entertain Seongwoo; and maybe that’s why he keeps wanting to get a reaction out of the other boy. As Jihoon takes his usual seat at the corner of the back table, Seongwoo smirks.

 

“That boy’s name is Park Jihoon,” Seongwoo announces. “He’s fucked more boys than all of us in this room even know the names of.”

 

And maybe it’s because of the air-conditioning, but the air in the library turns chilly. And the jock just lets go off his collar, looking a little unsure of what to do with the new information as he steals a glance at Jihoon, who doesn’t seem give a single fuck that Seongwoo’s outed him to the entire room. And Seongwoo knows he’s got him. _Bingo, eureka, all that shit._

 

“Found something in common?” he whispers to the jock, and he swears he sees fear flash across the jock’s eyes. “He would say yes if you asked.”

 

“ _Fuck you_ ,” the jock spits, and pushes him out of his sight. He looks visibly disturbed, and Seongwoo decides that his work is done.

 

Seongwoo hears the door slam open, and quickly takes the nearest seat, and puts on his fakest smile as the man-in-charge strolls into the library, expression stoic. It’s going to be an interesting day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The disciplinary master’s words don’t even enter Daniel’s ears at all. His brain is buzzing, and he’s sure he’s sweating even though the air conditioner is on full blast. All he can think about is the boy at the corner of the back table – and what was said about him.

_He’s fucked more boys than all of us in this room know the names of._

 

And all he can think about how the boy, Park Jihoon, didn’t have a tinge of fear in his eyes when it’d been announced to the room that he was so, obviously, _gay_. While Daniel is here, stuck in detention, because he’d been trying to keep it a secret.

 

“Kang Daniel? Do you have anything to say?” Mr Lee’s voice breaks Daniel’s train of thoughts, and he immediately looks up, flustered.

 

“N-no.”

 

“I’m sure he has many things to say,” he hears the same sneer from earlier.

 

“Ong Seongwoo, I suggest you keep your mouth shut or we’ll be seeing each other next week as well.”

 

So that was the cocky boy’s name, the one who looked like he could see into Daniel’s soul tell that he was all but the defence he’d built up for himself.

 

“Surrender your phones now, all of you,” Mr Lee instructs, holding out a box as he walks down the row. Minhyun surrenders his phone willingly, and Daniel follows suit. The boy with glasses also puts his phone in the box after turning it off, and Jihoon’s phone is already out for Mr Lee to take for himself.

 

“Ong Seongwoo,” Mr Lee says his name like it’s poison. “Your phone, now.”

 

“Oh shit, wait, someone’s calling me,” Seongwoo holds his phone up to his ear and puts a finger to his lip. After a pause, he puts down the phone and continues, “1990 called. It wants its shirt back.”

 

Daniel isn’t sure, but he thinks he hears someone scoffing at the back. He turns to the side, and sees Minhyun trying to keep his smile down. He finds himself giggling too, as much as he’s developed feelings of hatred towards Ong Seongwoo, it was pretty funny.

 

Mr Lee immediately whips his head around, and the sniggering stops.

 

Satisfied, Seongwoo puts his phone into the box and waves his hand dismissively.

 

“I expect silence to remain at all times. No talking, no eating, no getting out of your seats,” Mr Lee says, looking at Seongwoo the entire time.

 

“I want all of you to write a 1000-word essay on who you think you are. And I mean essay, not one word repeated 1000 times, understood?”

 

It’s safe to say Mr Lee has learnt to take silence as an answer.

 

“Yes, Seongwoo?”

 

“What if we have to go to the bathroom?”

 

It’s like watching a video game in real life. Seongwoo is on one team, and Mr Lee is on another. They’re constantly trying to get the upper hand, to torture the other party, until one of them succeeds.

 

“Bathroom break will be in two hours. Until then, hold it in.”

 

Mr Lee smiles as he takes his leave, and keeps the library door open.

 

“I’ll be in my office, so I suggest you guys don’t try anything funny.”

 

“ _Dick_ ,” he hears Seongwoo muttering under his breath.

 

And Daniel can’t help but agree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo gets up as soon as Mr Lee leaves. Jihoon doesn’t bother watching, he just puts his head down and pulls his hood over his head. This has been his routine since forever, and he’s really not in the mood to watch Seongwoo act like a know it all in front of strangers from detention.

 

“He said not to get up,” he hears a small voice say.

 

“I’ll do whatever I want to,” he hears Seongwoo snap back. “Who is he to order all of us around, anyway?”

 

He’s been in that position one too many times. Flashback to all the Saturdays he’s spent with Seongwoo and his ridiculous rants about respect and authority and all that shit.

 

“He’s the discipline master,” a deeper voice says. “Why don’t you show some respect, maybe then you’ll earn some yourself.”

 

That’s when Jihoon raises his head, to see Seongwoo walking back towards the boy wearing the school’s football team jacket. He wonders what a popular guy like him could have done to be here in detention. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Jihoon keeps his eyes peeled on football guy.

 

“People have to earn my respect before theirs,” Seongwoo says, face inching dangerously close to football guy. Football guy doesn’t seem to mind, he’s almost as headstrong as Seongwoo is. This should be fun to watch.

 

“Maybe you should keep your loud opinions to yourself,” football guy voices out, and thank God because Jihoon has been trying to tell Seongwoo the same thing. “Because none of us care about you. You might as well not be here anyway.”

 

There’s silence that follows, and Jihoon holds his breath. For a moment, he thinks he sees Seongwoo lose his composure, then he tears his gaze away from football guy and addresses all of them as one again.

 

“That’s what popular guys like you always turn to when you’re scared. You use the fact that most people like you against others. You’re at the top of the social hierarchy, we get it,” Seongwoo’s sitting on the table now, and it’s a lie to say none of them are listening.

 

It’s like Seongwoo was born to be listened to. Even football guy is quiet.

 

“Nerds like him,” Seongwoo points to the small boy in the middle and gets interrupted football guy again.

 

“He has a name.”

 

“Fine,” Seongwoo doesn’t fight back. “What’s your name, glasses?”

 

“Sungwoon,” the boy replies. He doesn’t seem intimidated by Seongwoo. He’s just unsure.

 

“Our precious Sungwoonie here,” Seongwoo smiles after getting his name. “He’s a nerd. You fit exactly in the middle of the food chain. People like him learn to keep to themselves. They’re just there. They talk shit about popular guys, only because they want to be one of them, am I right?”

 

And from the way Sungwoon doesn’t say anything, Jihoon starts to wonder if Seongwoo may have been smarter than he’d thought.

 

“You,” he says, pointing to football guy. “Kang Daniel, right?”

 

Seongwoo doesn’t mind that he doesn’t get a response, he knows he’s the centre of attention, and he loves it.

 

“There’s always someone like you in high school. You think you’re so friendly, you think everyone wants to be friends with you but inside, you’re scared. You’re insecure as fuck, so you try to get as many people on your side as possible, but you’re never going to be satisfied. Why? You feel like no one really knows who you are. You’re scared that everyone is in love with your everything, except your real self.”

 

Jihoon feels himself sitting straighter than before. No one says anything, they only keep their head down and listen to Seongwoo.

 

“Pretty boy,” Seongwoo says, moving on. “What’s your name?”

 

“Hwang Minhyun,” the boy next to Daniel says. “And don’t call me pretty boy.”

 

“ _Pretty boy_ , Hwang Minhyun,” Seongwoo ignores him anyway. “You come second in the hierarchy, right after our dear friend Daniel. Your life is good, because of your friends. You think you’re doing well. Except I can see you’re not. Hwang Minhyun, you’re trying so hard to become someone you’re not. And it’s not pretty.”

 

Jihoon sees Minhyun’s fingers clench into a fist from here, and his heart drops when he realizes he is next. He straightens his back and looks at Seongwoo in the eye. He is not afraid of Ong Seongwoo, and he’s confident Seongwoo has no fucking idea who Jihoon really is.

 

“Park Jihoon.”

 

All eyes are on him now, thinking the same thing, probably.

 

“You’re just a hopeless case. You keep lying to yourself, telling yourself that the life you’re living is okay. You like it when a boy calls you pretty, when they ask you if you’re free tonight. You say yes every time, and lie to yourself that you love having flings. When all you’re waiting for is that boy that will stay with you till the sun rises. But none of them do.”

 

Jihoon doesn’t realise it, but he feels something prick his eyes.

 

“Fuck you,” Jihoon hisses.

 

“You wouldn’t let me,” Seongwoo replies, smirking.

 

“You’re right,” Jihoon wills himself not to let the tears fall. “At the very least, I don’t sleep with trash.”

 

 _Fuck him,_ Jihoon tries to tell himself as he puts his head back down. Seongwoo’s opinion doesn’t matter anyway. Right? Unless his words are the truth, because Jihoon doesn’t remember the name of the guy from last night – he’d been too busy trying to get him to stay.

 

The last thing he sees before lying his head back down on the table is Daniel looking at him. For a second, he thinks that Daniel may understand. And then he thinks, _fuck you too_ , because what would a popular football player who can get anyone to like him know about wanting people to stay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“And you?” Minhyun finally finds the courage in him to speak up.

 

Seongwoo finally turns away from Jihoon to him. Minhyun doesn’t really like putting himself in situations where he has to fight back. But this is Ong Seongwoo, a nobody, telling all of them exactly what they look like to him.

 

And Minhyun thinks it isn’t fair if Seongwoo doesn’t get a taste of his own medicine.

 

“You’re trying to play God by telling us who we are, when we’re all meeting for the first time. You think you’re smart, but you’re not. Daniel was right, when he said you might as well not be here. The world will go around even if you aren’t here. So, stop acting all mighty, you’re just as fucked up as all of us.”

 

Minhyun expects Seongwoo to shut up, or even to fight back. But he does none of those. Instead, he gets up from the table and walks back over to Minhyun. And Minhyun swears he isn’t taking notes of Seongwoo’s chiselled features and veins on his arm as he stretches to squeeze his shoulder.

 

“That’s the Hwang Minhyun I’ve been searching for.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel fiddles with his pencil, then looks at the blank piece of paper in front of him. He has absolutely no idea where to start, or what to do. The room is quiet, because Seongwoo, Sungwoon and Jihoon are asleep.

 

Actually, he can’t tell if Jihoon is asleep or just putting his head down because he doesn’t want to look at anyone. He looked pretty affected because of Seongwoo just now, and Daniel would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little bad for the other boy.

 

The seat next to him is empty, because Minhyun had excused himself earlier to go and look for books to read. Or maybe he was affected by Seongwoo too. Daniel doesn’t understand how Seongwoo has this effect on them – it’s like _he knows_. Like he’s been through enough to know that Daniel is faking it.

 

He decides to ignore it, and stands up just to stretch. He thinks he could use a walk around the library too. Although Mr Lee did explicitly state no getting up from their chairs. But he thinks that Ong Seongwoo may be rubbing off on him.

 

Daniel bumps into Minhyun at the teens section.

 

“Hey,” Minhyun greets him softly.

 

Daniel knows Minhyun. He’s the only one Daniel knows in this library, before today. They’re not friends, somewhere between acquaintances and friends maybe. It’s just that Minhyun is friends with some of Daniel’s friends and-

 

Seongwoo is right. Daniel doesn’t have any real people on his side. Not now, anyway. None of them know Daniel’s secret, and none of them probably care anyway.

 

“Sorry, just here to get a book,” he gestures to the bookshelf and begins rummaging through it. Minhyun just smiles, and returns back to his reading. Daniel sighs when he finds nothing, and leaves Minhyun to look somewhere else.

 

At this point, it’s just mindless rummaging, and Daniel is trying to find the best way to kill his time. Books don’t exactly interest him, and all he’s really thinking about is the game he has in about five hours, and how he has to nail this game if he really wants that scholarship in university.

 

“Fuck,” his fingers curl around the book he’s holding tightly as he thinks about how everyone is counting on him – and yet, here he is, in detention.

 

His team needs him, by the time he gets to the stadium, they’ll only have the time to brief Daniel on the plan. His coach is probably not going to be happy with him at all for landing himself in detention.

 

_Where did he go wrong?_

 

“Are you going to get a book, or are you going to keep standing there and blocking the entire shelf?”

 

Daniel jumps, which is probably not the coolest thing a football team captain could do. Daniel turns around, and in his way, stands Park Jihoon, looking grouchy and annoyed. Something tells Daniel that Jihoon is not a force to be reckoned with, so he backs off.

 

“S-sorry,” he stutters and grabs the nearest book he can find. “You can have a go.”

 

Again, Daniel repeats, not cool.

 

Jihoon doesn’t acknowledge him. The other boy just strolls past and picks out a thick book with a cover that Daniel recognises well. A little too well that he’d be embarrassed to admit to other people, actually.

 

“That’s one of my favourites,” he speaks up. Jihoon turns to him, like he’s said something wrong. Quickly, Daniel adds, “The Goblet of Fire is my favourite book. Although Chamber of Secrets is definitely a good contender.”

 

Jihoon blinks once, then replies, “Okay…”

 

“Yeah,” Daniel echoes awkwardly.

 

Jihoon narrows his eyes, “Do you have something you want to say to me?”

 

Daniel has questions – lots of questions.

 

“I uh…” Daniel scratches the nape of his neck awkwardly.

 

“Two,” Jihoon states, expressionless.

 

“Two?” Daniel echoes.

 

“I’ve slept with two people in your team,” Jihoon clarifies, and Daniel’s heart almost stops. His mind is running at a hundred kilometres an hour and finally figures out what Jihoon means. “You want to know their names?”

 

“I don’t-“ Daniel begins, but is cut off again.

 

“Park Woojin. Kim Donghan.”

 

“Woojin?” Daniel’s voice is shaky, and he can’t believe he would ever hear Woojin’s name come out of Jihoon’s mouth. The Park Woojin he knows is cheery, and always a team player, Daniel would consider him a good friend.

 

“Donghan?” Daniel whispers. Donghan is the fastest in their team, and Daniel can always count on him to assist him. Donghan never seemed like the type…

 

“Shocking?” Jihoon’s smiling, but his smile never reaches his eyes. “That’s for sure. No one would openly admit to sleeping with me. I could be lying for all you know, just talking shit to make you suspect your teammates. You don’t have to believe me, but I think I answered your question.”

 

With that, Jihoon takes his leave, not before chucking the book in his hands to the ground.

 

Daniel just wants to reach out once, and say something to defend himself. Make himself look better in front of Jihoon, but he has a feeling Jihoon isn’t going to buy his act.

 

Even Daniel himself doesn’t know who he really is inside anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“That’s school property,” Sungwoon deadpans, watching Seongwoo carve something onto his table with his penknife.

 

“Thanks, Mr Obvious,” Seongwoo snorts, and goes back to his “artwork”.

 

Seongwoo is right, why _does_ Sungwoon always point out the obvious?

 

He just has a need to say something, be included in the conversation, and to be heard. Unfortunately, no one in this library seems to give a fuck about him.

 

They’re all too busy living their sad stories.

 

 _And I have my own to write_ , Sungwoon smiles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minhyun’s not really reading, he’s just looking at the words on his books and hoping they somehow make sense in his head. But nothing seems to come together, everything seems like a big mess, and he doesn’t know how to fix it.

 

A flash of anger surges through his stomach, and in the heat of the moment, he hurls the book he’s holding to the side and buries his face in between his knees.

 

“Not a fan of Shakespeare?”

 

“Please, go away,” Minhyun would recognise that tone of voice anywhere.

 

“Sorry, this is school property,” Minhyun hears Seongwoo snort. “I have a right to be here.”

 

It’s exhausting to even lift his face up and look at the boy who has disrupted his peace and quiet. Seongwoo dusts the book, and even slots it back into a random shelf. He glances at the pile of books Minhyun has beside him.

 

“Did you find anything good?” Seongwoo grins.

 

“Let’s just make this less painful for each other,” Minhyun sighs and picks himself up from the floor. His back is starting to ache, which can’t be a good sign. He’s going to get scolded for having bad posture during his lesson later on.

 

“And let’s try our best to stay out of each other’s way, okay?” Minhyun concludes.

 

“It’s not going to get better if you keep running away, you know,” Seongwoo calls out after him.

 

Minhyun turns around to glare at Seongwoo, who isn’t smiling anymore.

 

“What do _you_ know?”

 

“Just enough to give _you_ a piece of advice.”

 

Minhyun turns back, and hopes he can find a darker corner where Ong Seongwoo won’t find him – because suddenly he’s terrified that the other boy can see through him, and everything he’s keeping hidden on the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sungwoon jolts from his seat when he someone pulls a chair out in front of where he’s sitting, and places a ten dollar note on his table, where his essay is already half-written.

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

It’s Kang Daniel, looking a little out of it. It’s funny, to see the more often than not confident captain of the football team in detention, and actually initiating a conversation with him.

 

“What’s with the ten dollars?” Sungwoon asks.

 

“What you get for answering my question,” Daniel replies.

 

“Why are you asking me?” Sungwoon narrows his eyes.

 

“Because you’re smart,” Daniel shrugs. “Something I’m not.”

 

Sungwoon wants to be offended, but he really doesn’t have the energy nor right to correct Kang Daniel right now. He glances at the bill on his table and sighs, putting away his pen neatly in his pencil case. His essay can wait, he has a few more hours in this hellhole, so why not entertain Daniel for a little longer.

 

“What’s up?” Sungwoon attempts “popular people” lingo.

 

“Hypothetically,” Daniel stresses. “If you’ve made a bad impression on someone, would you want to fix it? Or just leave it?”

 

Sungwoon blinks once, and looks straight into Kang Daniel’s eyes. The question hangs in the air between them, and Sungwoon definitely wasn’t expecting a question like this.

 

“I’m not a life coach,” Sungwoon lays out the cold, hard facts for Daniel. “I’m just someone who likes studying, alright. You’re Kang Daniel, anyway, why would you care if you made a bad impression on someone? You have a hundred others who have a good impression of you.”

 

 _It must be easy_ , Sungwoon thinks. To live life that way.

 

“I’ve never had someone have a bad impression of me before,” Daniel confesses.

 

Sungwoon just sighs.

 

Kang Daniel was probably born into a family who accepted him for who he was, enrolled him into a school that only gave him more love. He could probably make a new friend from just smiling, and could get a girl just by saying “hello”. It’s no wonder Kang Daniel has never experienced rejection in his life.

 

The same can’t be said for Sungwoon.

 

“If it matters to you, I guess you should fix it,” Sungwoon shrugs. “I don’t know, really. You have everything, what’s someone’s opinion got to do with you?”

 

“I don’t have everything,” Daniel protests.

 

Sungwoon just slides the ten-dollar bill back to Daniel, “Then prove it. Don’t act like a child, and do whatever you want to. And I mean what you really want to do. Not what you think you’re expected to do. I want to do my essay, go away.”

 

Sungwoon holds his breath, shocked at how he’d revealed his true feelings in the heat of the moment. He’s just annoyed with how Daniel is taking everything around him for granted, and acting like everything is going to go his way.

 

Sungwoon knows that better than anyone else, that not everything is going to turn out okay.

 

But he’s just blown up at the most popular boy in the entire school, told him that he was acting like a child, and Sungwoon is positive his already non-existent life in school is going to be made worse.

 

“You’re smart, thanks,” is all Daniel says before taking crumpling the bill back into the back pocket of his jeans and returning to his seat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon returns to his seat, still fuming. And he’s not proud of it either, he takes pride in trying to feel as little emotions as possible. With time, it gets easier to supress his feelings and pretend like he doesn’t care how he looks or how other people see him.

 

“Hey, Jihoonie,” Seongwoo grabs a seat next to him. “What are you up to tonight?”

 

“None of your business,” Jihoon sighs, taking the packet of biscuits Jisung had given to him earlier out. He’s getting hungry, and it should be lunchtime soon but he’s sure the discipline master is going to drag it out again.

 

“Did something happen yesterday?” Seongwoo asks, his tone loaded with fake concern. “You don’t look so good.”

 

Jihoon tries to recall what happened yesterday. He’d gotten a call from someone, that guy in the school band – asking him to come over quickly. What happens after is always a blur. It’s hot, and fast, and the handsome guy asks him to leave at four in the morning, leaving him stranded on the street, with no choice but to hail a taxi home.

 

“Don’t talk about me like you care,” Jihoon threatens.

 

“I’m not talking about me,” Seongwoo shrugs. “I’m talking about him.”

 

Seongwoo points to Kang Daniel, who is pretending to read a book. Jihoon can tell he’s listening in to their conversation, because he’s holding his book upside down and has pushed his chair all the way back so that he can hear them.

 

“He’s interested in you,” Seongwoo says.

 

“I’m not interested,” Jihoon lies, although inside he’s secretly wondering if Seongwoo knows something.

 

“He likes girls,” Sungwoon points out, and Jihoon swears he sees Daniel’s shoulders tense.

 

Seongwoo laughs out loud, and hits the table with his fist dramatically.

 

“You got me good…” Seongwoo huffs and holds his stomach. “Kang Daniel, likes girls?”

 

Once again, he pretends to wipe a tear away from his eye, “That’s a really good one, nerd.”

 

Daniel stands up, frowning and looking not at all pleased, “Ong Seongwoo, shut your mouth if you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Jihoon already knows they’re in for a confrontation. He doesn’t understand why people feed into Ong Seongwoo’s traps, when they’re just setting themselves up for disappointment. Seongwoo stands up, but doesn’t make a move.

 

“I know exactly what I’m talking about,” Seongwoo says, voice suddenly dangerously serious. “What’s the big deal with liking guys? At least Jihoon isn’t a coward about it.”

 

“I do not like guys,” Daniel punctuates every word carefully, making sure everyone hears him.

 

“Quit the bullshit, captain,” Seongwoo rolls his eyes.

 

Jihoon holds his breath. He doesn’t like the atmosphere one bit, not when he’s the indirect cause of this argument. Yet he’s curious to see where this will go.

 

“Tell me you aren’t thinking of a boy when you’re busy getting the ladies,” Seongwoo taunts. “It’s going to be big when the school knows that their beloved captain is gay.”

 

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” Sungwoon points out, then shuts his mouth when no one pays him any attention, because Daniel and Seongwoo are too busy glaring at each other.

 

As much as Jihoon likes to have fun, he doesn’t like pushing people into a corner.

 

“Let it go,” Jihoon pulls Seongwoo’s arm to coax him to sit down. “I said, leave it.”

 

“And does your heart race when someone like Park Jihoon stands up for you?” Seongwoo doesn’t stop.

 

“Ong Seongwoo!” Jihoon yells, and suddenly there is silence.

 

Even Minhyun, who has suddenly made an appearance in the common area again looks shocked at Jihoon’s sudden outburst. Seongwoo spares a glance at Jihoon, grins like he’s won an invisible battle between him and Kang Daniel, and sits back down.

 

“You win, Ong Seongwoo.”

 

Everyone turns to face Daniel, and Jihoon freezes when he sees that Daniel is looking right at him.

 

Daniel smiles, a little crooked. And then he slumps back onto his chair.

 

“I’m gay,” Daniel adds. “And I’m afraid to say it. I guess you won, Ong Seongwoo.”

 

And then he turns back to face the front, leaving the four others to exchange looks with each other. They’re all holding their breaths, and Sungwoon’s jaw hangs open while Minhyun shakes his head disapprovingly in Seongwoo’s direction.

 

They’re all startled by the loud bang on the door that follows, and scramble back to their original seats when Mr Lee marches back into the library.

 

“I heard yelling,” Mr Lee narrows his eyes at the five students. “What happened?”

 

“I think you’re hearing things, Sir,” Seongwoo says, picking at his nails.

 

Mr Lee turns to Sungwoon, who Jihoon can see momentarily panics.

 

“No one said anything,” Sungwoon confirms. “It might have been the ghosts that were rumoured to haunt the library.”

 

“There are no ghosts here, Sungwoon,” Mr Lee clarifies.

 

He looks around, and probably decides that he’s not going to get anything useful out of any of the five students in the room. Mr Lee glances at the clock, and sighs, “You have 45 minutes to have your lunch, and then go back to working on your essay.”

 

Seongwoo raises his hand again, much to the dismay of Mr Lee.

 

“Yes, Seongwoo?”

 

“Can we get drinks?” Seongwoo asks.

 

“I don’t see why-“

 

“Please,” Minhyun speaks up. “I get dehydrated really easily.”

 

Daniel gets the hint, and seriously, says, “I’ve seen him get dehydrated. It’s not pretty.”

 

Mr Lee seems to want to say no, then sees the look on Minhyun’s face and relents.

 

“I can go!” Seongwoo volunteers, chirpy as ever.

 

Jihoon avoids Mr Lee gaze.

 

“You, Park Jihoon,” he barks and Jihoon groans internally. “And Kang Daniel. You two will get the drinks from the machine in the cafeteria and come back here immediately. And you will not try anything else.”

 

If there’s anything that Jihoon hates more than leaving his seat for something as trivial as beverages, it’s leaving his seat to go get beverages with Kang Daniel, who obviously does not seem very friendly right now.

 

Daniel just rises from his seat, and walks out the door. Jihoon just sighs, gives Seongwoo a pointed look and follows behind Daniel.

 

If Jihoon just keeps his mouth shut, everything is going to turn out fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It gets better,” Jihoon says from the side when Daniel presses on the button for the energy drink for himself.

 

He finally lifts his head, to look at the other boy.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Being gay,” Jihoon clarifies. “It gets better. I’m sorry that Seongwoo had to make you come out like that, but it’s nothing is going to happen if you hold that against him. He’s an asshole, but life gets better.”

 

“That’s the longest sentence you’ve said to me,” Daniel points out.

 

Jihoon just stares at him as he bends down to get his drink.

 

“What?” Daniel asks. “Yeah, I’m mad. I kind of want to sock him in his face but I’ll learn to get over it and maybe tell other people myself one day. What drink should we get for Seongwoo?”

 

“Poison,” Jihoon replies very seriously.

 

Daniel chuckles, making the tiniest of smiles form on Jihoon’s face.

 

“You look nice when you smile,” Daniel says, getting two bottles of green tea. He remembers seeing Minhyun drinking it once, and since he doesn’t know what Sungwoon likes, he’s just going to go with something safe and neutral like green tea.

 

The smile immediately drops from Jihoon’s face.

 

“What do you want?” Daniel asks. “It’s on me.”

 

“No,” Jihoon refuses, stepping in front of Daniel. “I’ll get my own drinks, thanks.”

 

“I said it’s on me,” Daniel argues. “Why won’t you just let people be nice to you?”

 

Jihoon sighs, and insets his own coins and gets himself a can of coke.

 

“Maybe because I’m afraid I’ll mistake it as something else,” Jihoon says, bending down to grab the two bottles of green tea. “I’ll bring this over to them first.”

 

Without another word, Jihoon leaves Daniel alone with the machine.

 

Daniel can’t believe he’s buying a drink for Ong Seongwoo – he’s still fuming with anger, although he doesn’t want to show it. _Fuck you_ , he thinks as he presses the button for a coke. He thinks about shaking it hard, then decides not to.

 

Deep down, his chest feels lighter, and he feels a little freer.

 

 _Thank you_ , he thinks while walking back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sungwoon wishes he didn’t have to be stuck between these two. He would literally be okay with any combination except for Hwang Minhyun and Ong Seongwoo. It doesn’t take a genius to sense the tension in the air – so far, Seongwoo has gotten to almost everyone.

 

Everyone, except Hwang Minhyun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A salad?” Seongwoo gasps dramatically. “Are you a cow?”

 

Minhyun closes his eyes and says a silent prayer to give him the inner strength to deal with Ong Seongwoo.

 

“What about you?” Minhyun looks back at Seongwoo. “What are you having for lunch?”

 

“I’m looking at it,” Seongwoo grins, batting his eyelashes at Minhyun.

 

Minhyun opens his mouth to snap back, but decides it’s really not worth the energy. Seongwoo doesn’t give up, and takes the seat next to Minhyun instead.

 

“Have you ever kissed someone?” Seongwoo asks just as Minhyun takes out his fork. It’s a plastic fork, but if Minhyun is angry enough, he could stab Seongwoo with it and make it hurt right this instant.

 

“Are you done?” Minhyun pokes at his food. “Bothering me, I mean. Is it fun? Interesting, maybe? Because it’s really not for me.”

 

“Geez,” Seongwoo shrugs. “I just asked if you kissed anyone in your life. Guess it’s a no.”

 

“I didn’t say that,” Minhyun snaps, realising too late he’s fallen into the trap laid out for him by Seongwoo himself. “Just go away.”

 

“I could kiss you.”

 

“What?” Minhyun frowns, turning to face Seongwoo who is grinning at him. “ _No_.”

 

“Come on,” Seongwoo pouts. “You would eat a whole salad, but not kiss me? I’d make it good.”

 

Minhyun can’t say he isn’t a little swayed – especially with that frustratingly good-looking face of Ong Seongwoo’s, it’s a lie that Minhyun isn’t going to tell that Seongwoo isn’t handsome. But he’s also ignorant, and loud, and mean.

 

In conclusion, he’s bad. Ong Seongwoo means bad news.

 

“I’d like to kiss someone with a little class,” Minhyun turns back to his food.

 

The door opens again, and in comes Jihoon with two green tea bottles and a can of coke in his hands. He hands one to Minhyun, and then to Sungwoon while walking back to his seat.

 

“What about mine?” Seongwoo pouts.

 

“Daniel got it,” Jihoon answers curtly.

 

There’s a silence that follows, and Jihoon speaks up again, “He paid for your drink. Pay him back later.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel comes back a minute later, and slams the coke can onto Seongwoo’s table.

 

“Thanks, Danny,” he smiles, and hands him a dollar. “Jihoon told me to pay you, so I should listen to him, right?”

 

Seongwoo doesn’t miss the way Daniel glances at Jihoon for just a millisecond, and it warms his icy cold heart for a moment.

 

“Forget it,” Daniel waves him off.

 

“Having rich parents are great, huh?” Seongwoo smiles.

 

“Can’t you ever say something that doesn’t make me mad?” Daniel sits back down in his chair, and opens his lunch. An apple, and a big sandwich that has meat hanging out all over it. A jock, indeed.

 

For a moment, Seongwoo tries to reflect. Since when did he get so bitter about the world, anyway?

 

“If your greatest worry is being offended by what I say, then you’re living a fucking privileged life and in no way will I sympathise with you,” Seongwoo snaps. “Just eat the lunch prepared by your mommy and daddy and tell them how much you love them, alright?”

 

Daniel pushes the chair back and comes up to grab Seongwoo by the collar.

 

 _Here we go again_ , Seongwoo thinks.

 

“Don’t mock my family,” Daniel hisses. “When yours isn’t any better.”

 

Seongwoo laughs out loud, to the surprise of Daniel.

 

“You’re right, Daniel,” Seongwoo agrees. “My family sucks. I don’t know who my mom is, and my Dad is waiting at home for me every day.”

 

“ _With what_ , do you know?” Seongwoo prompts.

 

He knows everyone is listening to him – and this is exactly what he wants. Seongwoo wants to be heard.

 

“With a belt,” he hisses, looking into Daniel’s eyes. “And sometimes, if I’m lucky, he’ll be too drunk to even realise I’m home. If I’m not? Do you want to know what happens after that?”

 

“You’re lying,” Daniel says through his clenched teeth. “We’re not here to fish for sympathy. We’re here because we all did something wrong.”

 

“Fuck you,” Seongwoo pushes Daniel away.

 

His fingers hover around the hem of his shirt for a moment, and then Seongwoo thinks, he has nothing else in this world to lose.

 

He’s already lost his family, his friends, his freedom, and probably his ego too.

 

“Look at this,” Seongwoo says, pulling up his shirt to reveal an angry, purple bruise on the side of his stomach. It still hurts when he moves, but he’s learnt to even disguise that. He makes sure that everyone takes a good look, from Minhyun, to Daniel, to Sungwoon and even Jihoon.

 

“Next time you want to complain,” Seongwoo says. “You remember this.”

 

“Is it true?” Sungwoon pipes up in a small voice.

 

With a crooked smile, Seongwoo turns to Sungwoon, “You want to come over after school sometime?”

 

They eat in silence for the rest of the 45 minutes. When Seongwoo says “they” he really means the other four, because he doesn’t have anyone to prepare lunch for him. And he doesn’t even care enough for himself to buy himself something.

 

He pops open the can of coke Daniel had gotten him, and is pleasantly surprised to know that the other boy didn’t shake the can before giving it to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon feels himself smiling widely for the first time that day as he unwraps his fried chicken from its aluminium foil. This is his favourite part of the day, and he gets ready to dig in.

 

Until he realises that everyone in the room is staring at him.

 

“You’re eating…” Sungwoon’s eyes dart between Jihoon’s chicken and the him. “The whole chicken?”

 

“Um…” Jihoon looks around. “Yeah?”

 

Jihoon swears he’s not looking, it’s just by accident he sees Kang Daniel smiling and just for a little moment, he gets that feeling of wanting to be held by someone again. Then he shuts his eyes and banishes all the mushy thoughts from his mind and starts taking the chicken apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s when Jihoon is three quarters through the chicken that he realises Seongwoo doesn’t have anything on his table. He looks at the last quarter of chicken on his table, and back at the other boy, who is sipping his coke silently for a change.

 

And then he remembers the bruise on Seongwoo’s side.

 

“Take this,” Jihoon hands the last quarter of chicken to Seongwoo. When he doesn’t react, Jihoon just puts it down on his table and walks back to his seat, pulls his hood over his head and tries to get some sleep.

 

He’s warm, and full, and maybe a little sleepy.

 

“I don’t need-“ he hears Seongwoo saying.

 

“They’re leftovers,” Jihoon says, not lifting his head. “Eat it, or throw it away. But no one is going to call the ambulance when you drop dead on the floor.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“This is a really bad idea,” Sungwoon says, crouching in front of Daniel and watching Seongwoo observe Mr Lee in his office.

 

Daniel silently agrees, but if he has to spend another minute in that stuffy library, he might lose his mind. So when Seongwoo proposes sneaking out, he ropes Jihoon in, and suddenly Daniel finds himself agreeing. Minhyun just shrugs, and Sungwoon is peer pressured into going with them.

 

“That’s the fifth time you’re saying it,” Seongwoo snaps from the front of the line. “The sixth time and you’re going down, _I mean it._ ”

 

Daniel turns his back to check on the rest – Minhyun just looks slightly intrigued, and Jihoon’s face is swollen, still annoyed that he had to be woken up from his nap just for this. He quickly looks back in front when Jihoon meets his eye.

 

“Okay,” Seongwoo beckons them to follow, and they scurry after him.

 

“Where the hell are we going, anyway?” Daniel voices out on behalf of the team.

 

“You guys ever smoke?” Seongwoo asks.

 

The question hangs in the air for a moment, and finally, Sungwoon says, “Like cigarettes or-“

 

“No, babe,” Seongwoo coos. “Like, weed.”

 

“Oh, no.”

 

Daniel doesn’t know if Sungwoon means “oh, _no_ ” like he hasn’t smoked weed in his life, or “ _oh, no_ ” like bad idea has just been upgraded into a very terrible idea that could get him stripped off his scholarship and the team.

 

“Come on,” Seongwoo says. “We’re already halfway to my locker. If he finds us here, we’re earning ourselves another eight hours next Saturday. And I think one thing we all agree on is that we wouldn’t want to see each other ever again.”

 

Seongwoo doesn’t leave Daniel anytime to ponder about that, because he starts running, and suddenly, they’re all running down the hallway, shoes squelching and resounding in the empty hallways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Got it,” Seongwoo says, making it a point to smile at Minhyun when he reaches for whatever he’s looking for in his locker. Minhyun just huffs, and keeps a lookout for Mr Lee who may come around the corner anytime.

 

His heart is pounding, and he’s never felt so anxious in his life. Minhyun doesn’t know how he got dragged into this – if someone finds him here, he’s going to have to explain how and why he’s with Ong Seongwoo, who is very obviously getting drugs out of his locker.

 

“ _Hurry up_ ,” he urges.

 

Daniel and Sungwoon seem to be tapping their feet anxiously on the ground as well, while Jihoon just looks bored and sleepy. Minhyun wonders how many times the younger boy has been in this position to not feel a slight tinge of anxiousness at all.

 

“Relax _Minhyunnie_ ,” Seongwoo singsongs and pulls a white plastic out of his locker. “We can go back now.”

 

“Let’s go,” Daniel takes the lead first. “This way, through the cafeteria.”

 

“No,” Seongwoo interrupts. “That way’s locked, we have to go through the sports hall if we don’t want to be caught.”

 

The other three are caught in the middle again, until Daniel starts walking in the direction of the cafeteria. Sungwoon takes one look at Seongwoo, and quickly runs after Daniel. Jihoon too, sees where the majority are headed to and follows behind the two that are already a distance in front.

 

Seongwoo looks at Minhyun – and suddenly Minhyun thinks that maybe, just maybe, Seongwoo just wants somebody to take his side for once.

 

“Come on,” Minhyun urges, and gather his courage to grab Seongwoo’s wrist, and runs, hoping to catch up with the rest of the group before they get left behind.

 

“How does it feel?” Seongwoo asks as they’re running, “To break the rules for once, to be a little bad?”

 

Minhyun can’t believe that even as they’re running, Seongwoo has to say something. He’s still holding onto Seongwoo’s wrist, and for some stupid reason, doesn’t want to let go.

 

“It’s okay,” Minhyun admits. “I guess.”

 

“I knew you had it in you,” Seongwoo says.

 

For the first time, Minhyun smiles. He’s not even looking in front, but at Ong Seongwoo. Obnoxious, bad news, Ong Seongwoo. And when Seongwoo smiles back, Minhyun thinks that maybe he isn’t that bad after all.

 

“Crap,” Minhyun hears Daniel curse and he skids to a stop.

 

The route in front of them is locked. They’re out-of-breath, huffing and puffing until they hear it.

 

Whistling, and the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to them.

 

It doesn’t even take Seongwoo a second to decide what he should do – so he takes out the white plastic from his pocket and stuffs it into Sungwoon’s.

 

“You guys have to go from the back gate, and use the emergency stairs to get back up to the library,” Seongwoo says, getting ready to run off when he’s stopped by Minhyun, still holding onto his wrist.

 

“What about you?” Minhyun asks.

 

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about me, Hwang Minhyun,” Seongwoo smiles, caressing Minhyun’s cheek for just a second with his free hand. “I have nothing else left to lose.”

 

With that, Seongwoo wriggles free from Minhyun’s grip, and starts to skip down the hallway while berating the lyrics to a pop song that Minhyun doesn’t recognise. Even then, he can still feel Seongwoo’s lingering touch on his cheek.

 

Daniel clears his throat, “I think we should go.”

 

“I know the way,” Jihoon finally speaks up and leads them away from the footsteps and whistling, which Minhyun knows is getting too close to a certain someone he’s come to be worried about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo skips down the hallway, going in the opposite direction of the library. He knows Mr Lee is going to follow him – but better him than the rest, right? He trusts them enough not to fuck this up any further; because what he said was true.

 

They have so much left to lose, Seongwoo just can’t bear to put them in trouble just because of him.

 

“Ong Seongwoo!” he hears from behind him.

 

Seongwoo just waves at Mr Lee, and starts running.

 

Maybe if he runs fast enough, he can run away from all his problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sungwoon plops into his chair as soon as they run into the library, chest heaving from running up the stairs. Maybe he really needs to stop calling sick during PE and start doing some daily exercises.

 

He knew following the group out of the library was bound to be a bad idea – especially if Seongwoo is the one that initiates it. Still, he can’t help but think about how Seongwoo had sacrificed himself to distract Mr Lee, and his respect for Seongwoo grows just a little.

 

Then he remembers the small packet that Seongwoo had stuffed into his pocket, and curses internally. He reaches to take it out and hide it somewhere when the door to the library slams open, and Sungwoon immediately retreats.

 

“Well done, Seongwoo,” Mr Lee says as he pushes Seongwoo back into the room. Sungwoon doesn’t understand how Seongwoo can still be smiling in this situation. “You’ve earned yourself another two Saturdays with me, I hope you’re happy.”

 

“I had a nice jog,” Seongwoo stretches. “Can’t say the same for you, though, Sir.”

 

Sungwoon struggles to keep a straight face, because while Seongwoo looks unfazed from all the running he’s been doing, the discipline master is drenched in sweat and looks a little pale.

 

“Lift your hands up,” he commands.

 

“What for, Sir?” Seongwoo blinks innocently.

 

“Don’t play dumb,” Mr Lee threatens. “I know you keep drugs in your locker. How do I know you’re not carrying them with you right now?”

 

“I’m not,” Seongwoo flashes a confident smile. “Because it’s with Sungwoon.”

 

Sungwoon panics, and he sees Minhyun and Daniel panicking in front of him, like they can’t believe Seongwoo sold Sungwoon out like that. His heart rate starts to quicken, and Sungwoon starts thinking of a million excuses to get out of this one.

 

“Sir, he-“ Sungwoon stands up to defend himself.

 

“Sit down, Sungwoon,” Mr Lee instructs and Sungwoon shuts his mouth. He turns to Seongwoo, “You expect me to believe that? When will you ever take the blame for your own mistakes, Ong Seongwoo? Now, put your hands up.”

 

Seongwoo relents, and puts his hands up for Mr Lee to pat him down.

 

“I’m pretty sure you’re violating some kind of rule here,” Seongwoo comments as Mr Lee struggles to find something, but Sungwoon, and the four others know he will find nothing.

 

Because the drugs are indeed, with Sungwoon.

 

He holds his breath as Mr Lee scans the room when he finds nothing, and Sungwoon tries his best to look normal, blend in and become invisible. After all, that’s really what he does best, right?

 

“Just because you got away with it this time, doesn’t mean you’ll get away with it again,” Mr Lee threatens, and Seongwoo finally puts his arms down. “No matter how much you try to hide it, you are nothing but a criminal and I will find a way to have you kicked out of this school.”

 

“Aw,” Seongwoo pretends to tear. “Thank you for your kind words, Sir.”

 

“You are hopeless,” Mr Lee snaps. “Why don’t you just stay at home and cry to your father? Let’s see what he’ll do to you when he finds out that you’ve been doing drugs in school? I’ve realised he doesn’t like having phone calls from the principal.”

 

Ever so slightly, Seongwoo flinches.

 

“Are you threatening me with my abusive father, Sir?” Seongwoo’s voice trembles, but Sungwoon can tell it’s not from fear, it’s from anger.

 

“Know your place, Ong Seongwoo,” Mr Lee concludes, with a smile that tells Sungwoon he thinks he’s won this battle. “You’re in detention now, but in ten years, you will be in jail. And I will be glad to visit you.”

 

Sungwoon holds his breath, not even daring to look up at either Seongwoo or Mr Lee.

 

“Thank you,” Seongwoo says in a voice a little louder than a mere whisper. “I will remember that.”

 

Mr Lee then turns away from Seongwoo to address the other four.

 

“This is exactly the kind of behaviour that we condemn in this school,” Mr Lee says. “You have two hours left. Make it count.”

 

Then, he turns and leaves the library in silence for the nth time that day.

 

Seongwoo’s expression doesn’t change even when he walks up to Sungwoon and holds out his hand.

 

Even if it’s trivial, or not going to be taken seriously, Sungwoon feels like he has to say something.

 

“You’re not that bad,” he tells Seongwoo. “Thank you for covering up for us.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?” Seongwoo cocks his head to the side, neither looking grateful nor annoyed. “Just give me my stuff.”

 

“Right,” Sungwoon remembers, and takes it out from his pocket and hands it over to Seongwoo.

 

Holding up the bag in the air, Seongwoo looks around.

 

“Anyone wants to join me?”

 

Sungwoon hears a chair being pushed back, and he turns around to see Jihoon following Seongwoo to the back. Minhyun seems to be thinking hard as well, because when he gets up, he doesn’t meet Sungwoon’s eyes.

 

Daniel seems to be thinking the hardest. Sungwoon knows – the title of being the school’s football team captain, the love he gets from his family and friends, and the scholarship for university.

 

_Is he really going to give all of those up for some guy he met in detention?_

 

Daniel slams his fist down on the table as he stands up, and sighs deeply while walking to the back of the library.

 

 _Fuck_ , Sungwoon screams internally, being the only one left in the common area. He doesn’t want to be left out.

 

And, he smiles to himself bitterly. This is what he’s always wanted, _isn’t it?_ To be included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minhyun doesn’t miss the soft smile on Seongwoo’s face when he realises that he’s followed him.

 

“I’m _just_ –“ Minhyun wants to defend himself, then decides against it. He’s here anyway, right? There’s no denying that he’s curious, and that he wants to try it. Especially when Seongwoo’s sitting on the library sofa, one leg across the other, with his arm spread out on the back.

 

Minhyun takes a deep breath before continuing.

 

“It’s my first time… alright?”

 

Seongwoo grins, sits up and pats the seat next to him. Minhyun hesitates, then takes a seat. Seongwoo already smells like he’s high, and it should really disgust Minhyun but the smell alone is addicting, and when the smell comes together with Seongwoo, it makes so much harder to resist.

 

Minhyun watches as Seongwoo prepares a new roll for him, half fascinated and half traumatized.

 

“Not too much,” Minhyun squeaks, and Seongwoo chuckles.

 

“How would _you_ know how much is _too much_?”

 

Minhyun’s shoulders slump, and suddenly he realises that this is indeed, a very terrible idea. The worst he’s made in his entire life, and the worst he’s probably going to make in his entire life.

 

“Okay,” Seongwoo begins. “Just… you know, hold it in your mouth.”

 

It’s in Minhyun’s mouth, and he panics; until he feels Seongwoo patting his back.

 

“You have to relax,” Seongwoo urges.

 

“How can I relax when I literally have a joint in my mouth!” the words come out a little muffled but Seongwoo still hears him.

 

“You’re cute when you’re mad,” Seongwoo coos. “Seriously, just relax. I’ll take care of everything.”

 

Finally, Minhyun feels his muscles relax just a little.

 

“I’m lighting it,” Seongwoo says, and Minhyun gives him a tiny nod.

 

He holds his breath, afraid.

 

“Breathe,” he hears Seongwoo say. “ _Breathe, Minhyun_.”

 

And so he does.

 

He expects it to hit him hard, and braces himself for it. But it never comes, he just feels…

 

“Minhyun, are you okay?” he hears Seongwoo’s voice.

 

“ _Good_ ,” he nods. “I feel good.”

 

“Okay,” he feels Seongwoo’s fingers in his hair, but doesn’t have the strength to say or do anything about it. In fact, Minhyun leans into it, because it feels good. Comforting, maybe. “Remember to breathe out. And tell me if you want to stop.”

 

“You worry too much,” Minhyun chides, eyes fluttering open. He thinks he sees Daniel disappearing into the room that Jihoon went into earlier, but doesn’t make any notice of it. And then, he sees Sungwoon taking a seat opposite them.

 

“I guess I’ve always been curious,” Sungwoon shrugs.

 

“We’ve been there,” Seongwoo replies, already handing Sungwoon one and lighting it up before Sungwoon can change his mind.

 

Sungwoon explodes into a coughing fit, different from Minhyun.

 

And Minhyun laughs out loud – it feels good to finally laugh out loud. Seongwoo joins him, and Sungwoon only looks embarrassed for a second before he’s joining them, exploding into laughter while clutching their stomachs.

 

Sungwoon tries to blow rings, and fails dramatically. He then flings his glasses onto the ground and starts dancing – who Minhyun has to admit, dances pretty well.

 

Or maybe it’s the drugs talking to him.

 

Seongwoo cheers Sungwoon on, laughing hard when Sungwoon trips over his own feet and lands on his stomach. Even then, he rolls around the floor and laughs.

 

It’s the first time Minhyun has heard the library resound with sounds of laughter the entire day.

 

And while he’s laughing, he meets Seongwoo’s eyes as well – and he’s happy to know that Ong Seongwoo’s smile finally reaches his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel pushes open the door that has a “printing room” sign nailed to it. It’s hazy, misty, foggy when he walks in. Even then, he makes out Jihoon sitting on the printer itself holding something between his fingers.

 

“You’re here,” Jihoon notices. “Why?”

 

“Wanted to see what the fuss was about,” Daniel shrugs, rolling himself one because he figures Jihoon isn’t going to do it for him. He’s seen people do it a couple of times, but he’s never been the one to actually give in and do it.

 

“Here,” Jihoon hands him a lighter, and Daniel takes that as a peace offering.

 

“Thank you,” Daniel smiles, like Jihoon isn’t encouraging him to smoke weed but ignores it. There’s tension in the air that Daniel doesn’t know how to resolve, and why he wants to resolve it. Daniel says a quick prayer before taking a deep breath.

 

 _Bad mistake_ , he thinks before he starts choking. It’s all up his nose and everywhere, it doesn’t feel good at all.

 

_But you know what feels good?_

 

The way Jihoon’s eyes crinkle into pretty crescents when he looks at Daniel, and smiles.

 

“You’ll get used to it,” Jihoon offers helpfully.

 

“I don’t think this is something I should be getting used to,” Daniel says honestly.

 

Jihoon laughs heartily, nodding.

 

“There’s _you_ ,” Jihoon clarifies. “And then there’s _me_.”

 

Daniel’s heart drops. There’s still this invisible wall between him and Jihoon, and no matter how hard he tries to break it down, there are no weak points on this wall. Jihoon just keeps building and building, even though he desperately wants someone strong enough to find a way in.

 

And Daniel doesn’t know why, but he wants to be that person.

 

“You are looking at me like I’m a damsel in distress,” Jihoon points out plainly. “I don’t need saving.”

 

“Has anyone ever asked you out on an actual date?” Daniel asks, trying to ignore the pain that flashes across Jihoon’s eyes. “Or do you guys do it right upon meeting?”

 

Jihoon pushes himself off the printer, takes a deep breath.

 

“A _long, long, time ago_ ,” Jihoon smiles. “Maybe.”

 

Daniel knows he’s losing Jihoon. Or maybe this is the real Jihoon, without the confidence to ignore what other people think about him.

 

“Dates?” Jihoon laughs. “When the whole school knows that you’ve slept with a few guys, there’s no turning back. The worst aren’t those who talk behind my back, because I couldn’t give a single fuck about them. The worst people come up to me and ask for a shot.”

 

Daniel swallows nervously.

 

“You mean… you’ve never had someone,” Daniel reaches out to cup Jihoon’s face in his hands. “Do this to you?”

 

“Not without an ulterior motive,” Jihoon says, then pushes Daniel’s hands away.

 

“Kang Daniel, just because you live in a perfect world, doesn’t mean we all have to, okay?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Okay,” Sungwoon talks first, breaking the silence. “I think I know why people get addicted to weed.”

 

Only Seongwoo and Minhyun lift their eyes to look at the other boy.

 

They’re sitting in the lane between bookshelves, both exhausted and too lazy to move. Minhyun is leaning against the bookshelf, close to Seongwoo.

 

Sungwoon is stretching out his legs on one end, and opposite Minhyun and Seongwoo sits Daniel, next to Jihoon.

 

“I think I’m not high anymore,” Sungwoon points out. “And it kind of sucks. It’s like nothing is funny to you anymore. Coming down from that kind of high… it doesn’t feel nice, at all. I kind of wish I had another one, you know.”

 

“Yeah,” Seongwoo points out as he holds up the now empty bag. “Thanks for clearing out my fucking supply.”

 

Only there’s no menace in his words, and they all smile and chuckle softly to themselves as they think about how Ha Sungwoon had been the one to clear Seongwoo’s supply.

 

“It’s like an escape,” Daniel points out.

 

“What would you know about wanting to escape?” Seongwoo laughs.

 

Jihoon silently agrees.

 

“Not everything about my life is good,” Daniel protests weakly, and Jihoon can tell he probably doesn’t believe himself as well.

 

“Oh yeah?” Seongwoo smirks. “Prove it. Tell us what got you into detention. Did you use a bad word? Curse at the teacher? Forget to do your homework?”

 

Jihoon scoffs, and he can feel Daniel’s gaze on him.

 

“It’s probably nothing much,” Jihoon smiles. “Right, Daniel? You don’t have to make up a story.”

 

Beside him, Jihoon sees Daniel’s fingers clench to form a fist.

 

“I hit someone,” is all he says.

 

Seongwoo grins and shakes his head disapprovingly.

 

“Because he saw me kissing another guy in the locker room,” Daniel adds, his voice trembling. “I was scared, okay? I wanted to know if I was made wrongly or something, so I kissed this guy.”

 

“And someone came in and saw the two of us. He threatened to tell everyone – my coach, my teammates, my friends and my family. I was so fucking scared, I know you guys are thinking about how kissing a guy is no big deal. And you’re right, because my fake friends mean too much to me, I did everything I could to shut him up.”

 

Jihoon shuts his mouth, feeling terrible at how he’d treated Daniel like his problem was nothing earlier.

 

“I kept hitting him,” Jihoon hears Daniel’s voice crack. “Until I didn’t hear him beg me anymore.”

 

“And you know what the worst part is?”

 

Jihoon doesn’t want to know.

 

“My perfect family telling me I made a small mistake,” Daniel says. “Telling me I could right my wrongs if I just stayed in detention for eight hours. They didn’t even yell at me or make me go on my knees to apologise, they bargained with the principal to let me keep the captain title and my scholarship. I’m a monster, but everyone else doesn’t want to believe it.”

 

Jihoon looks up, and he sees tears streaming down Daniel’s face. No one is smiling anymore, even Seongwoo is looking into the distance – everywhere but at Daniel.

 

“So _yeah_ , I know,” Daniel shrugs. “It’s great to have such a nice family. One that I know will probably do whatever it takes to cover this up. It’s nice to know that everyone believes that I can be that perfect son, captain and friend.”

 

 _The world is a scary place,_ Jihoon confirms that again today.

 

“I don’t even have to be here,” Jihoon speaks up, and everyone looks at him.

 

“I have nothing better to do,” Jihoon confesses. “So, I come here and see how people are living better lives than me and pity myself.”

 

“He’s right,” Seongwoo speaks up. “Unless he has an appointment, you’d rush off immediately wouldn’t you?”

 

Jihoon smiles, and feels something pricking his eyes.

 

“Since all you want is pity, then tell us,” Seongwoo challenges. “What you do with those boys who ask for your number.”

 

“Ong Seongwoo,” Daniel growls. “Just leave him alone.”

 

“I’ll tell you,” Jihoon suddenly feels brave.

 

What else does he have to hide, when the whole world already sees him in whatever way they want to? Jihoon can’t change their perceptions, their opinions. So he might as well feed into their sick fantasies.

 

“I ask them to do it hard and fast,” he makes sure not to trip over his words. “Until I can’t remember their name.”

 

He hears Daniel sucking in a breath of air next to him, and says the next words while looking straight into Daniel’s eyes.

 

“You know why? It makes it easier to let go.”

 

To Seongwoo he says, “You’re right. I want people to stay with me, but I guess I’m the biggest problem here, right?”

 

Jihoon wipes his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt – and promises himself that he’s never going to cry over this ever again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minhyun knows everyone is waiting for him to say something.

 

“I skipped class,” he leans back into the bookshelf and hopes that it’ll eat him up. “To go to the suspension bridge near the river.”

 

He knows what everyone is thinking.

 

“And for a moment,” Minhyun closes his eyes to just remember that day. The way the sun peaked through the clouds in the sky, and the way the birds sang songs he’d never heard in his life, and the way the leaves of the trees rustled in the wind.

 

“I wanted to be someone else,” Minhyun finishes. “I didn’t want to learn the fucking violin or piano. I didn’t want to follow what my friends said. But that’s just who I am, I’m Hwang Minhyun, and I follow whatever my family and friends tell me to do.”

 

“When I returned, my mom called for a psychiatrist,” Minhyun smiles. “But how can the problem go away if I’m not the problem?”

 

“It’s all her fault,” Minhyun snaps, suddenly feeling angry. “And all those music lessons, and arranging dinners with my stepdad. And forcing me to be friends with people I don’t like.”

 

He remembers sitting on that bridge, and looking down at the gushing waters below his feet.

 

“And I wondered,” Minhyun sighs. “If I could be someone else if I jumped.”

 

He can feel everyone holding their breath.

 

“Would it be different?” Minhyun wonders aloud. “Or are we just destined to live the life we’re given?”

 

Then he chokes up, and can’t talk anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Now I feel kind of stupid,” Sungwoon admits.

 

“We all said our piece,” Daniel says. “It’s your turn.”

 

Sungwoon points out, “Not Seongwoo.”

 

“I’m a criminal, a regular here, you heard the old man,” Seongwoo waves him off. “Nothing special. _Your turn_ , nerd. I’m actually the most interested in your story.”

 

Sungwoon smiles, he’s actually getting used to be getting called nerd by Ong Seongwoo.

 

“I leaked the questions for our mid-term paper,” he says.

 

It shouldn’t be something he’s proud of, but it’s weird. Sungwoon feels like he can be open about his mistakes around the other four. And it’s funny, because they have nothing in common, and they would have never gathered together if not for detention.

 

“It’s kind of a stupid story,” Sungwoon chuckles, remembering the whole fiasco.

 

“Not as stupid as me beating up an innocent guy because I was afraid that people would know I was gay,” Daniel leans back.

 

“You’re right, that _was_ stupid of you,” Sungwoon realises.

 

“I uh… was stood up? I’d been crushing on our school’s dance president for the longest time,” Sungwoon scoffs when he remembers arriving early for their planned date. “And imagine how happy I was when he said he would go on a date with me.”

 

Sungwoon doesn’t know why, but he’s tearing up. It’s stupid, so stupid.

 

“Me, the epitome of a nerd, scoring a date with the dance club’s president? _Fat hope_.”

 

“If something is too good to be true, it’s probably not,” Sungwoon adds. “Yeah, I was stood up that night and I cried for a week like a loser.”

 

“And this relates to you leaking the mid-terms how?” Seongwoo raises his eyebrows at Sungwoon.

 

“I was just getting to that,” Sungwoon snaps, earning a smile from Daniel and Minhyun.

 

“I realised how fucked I was for mid-terms over a stupid crush,” Sungwoon recalls. “I freaked out the night before, and broke into the school to steal the papers.”

 

Even when he’s heart-broken, he still has the heart of a nerd. To do well for his exams. It’s a funny story, Sungwoon thinks.

 

“Dude,” he hears Daniel say. “You’re a hero.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I didn’t study for mid-terms,” Daniel explains with a goofy smile and tear-stained face from before. “I was so happy to know the exams had been rescheduled to a week later.”

 

Sungwoon beams, “Really?”

 

“Me too,” he hears Minhyun speak up. “I could always use a week more to study. Anything to impress my parents, right?”

 

“Give me a five,” Seongwoo holds out his hand, and purposely keeps it back in when Sungwoon holds his hand out.

 

“I mean, not like a week is going to make me study,” Seongwoo shrugs. “But hey, you’re a hero to the entire student body.”

 

Sungwoon can’t believe it really, that they would react this way.

 

“Fuck that guy,” Jihoon finally speaks up. “I’m available, especially for heart-broken boys.”

 

The grin on Jihoon’s smile comforts Sungwoon that if Jihoon is comfortable enough to make light of his own problems, he will get over this. His parents may be mad as fuck right now, but it’s not going to destroy his life. Slowly, Sungwoon feels himself getting more confident.

 

“God,” Sungwoon suddenly sighs. “Are we going to be just like our parents when we grow up?”

 

“Fuck no,” Daniel speaks up first.

 

“Please,” Minhyun says in a softer voice. “ _Never_.”

 

“Yeah,” Sungwoon sighs. “ _Never_.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo turns to Minhyun.

 

“If you don’t want to play the piano or violin, then what exactly do you want to do?”

 

Minhyun blinks, and Seongwoo swears he’s still stoned from before because his pretty eyelashes are definitely having some kind of effect on Seongwoo.

 

“I want to sing,” Minhyun decides.

 

The other three lift their heads, curiosity peaked.

 

“Then sing,” Seongwoo challenges. “Show us how good you are.”

 

“Why do I have to prove myself to you?” Minhyun asks.

 

“If you really can’t sing, then maybe your mother is right,” Seongwoo shrugs. “You should play the piano and violin. At least she cares enough to have you learn all of that. My mother didn’t even care enough to stay.”

 

Seongwoo sees Minhyun take in a deep breath.

 

“But you guys better not laugh.”

 

The other three nod in agreement, but Seongwoo just stares at Minhyun.

 

“Go.”

 

Minhyun seems to hesitate – and Seongwoo can see that he doesn’t do this often. Maybe even never. His mother would hate for him to be singing, and Minhyun would never do this in front of his friends.

_So why Seongwoo? Or Daniel, Jihoon and Sungwoon?_

 

Thing is, Seongwoo already knows that Hwang Minhyun can sing well. With such a pretty face and voice like that, there’s no mistaking that Minhyun wasn’t meant to play the piano or the violin.

 

Seongwoo just wants Minhyun to prove himself – to himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minhyun feels free when he sings. What he can’t express in words – he does in his songs.

 

Suddenly, he doesn’t just want to sing, he wants to write and compose.

 

First, a clap from Sungwoon, and then Daniel catches on. Jihoon gives in, and gives Minhyun a round of applause when he finishes as well.

 

All of them maintain a straight face, except for Ong Seongwoo, who is grinning at him.

 

“You bastard,” Daniel snaps. “You promised you wouldn’t laugh at him!”

 

Now it’s Sungwoon’s turn to shake his head disapprovingly at Seongwoo.

 

Minhyun’s heart drops. He doesn’t know why he’d even tried. Maybe Seongwoo’s opinion doesn’t matter – _but why does it feel like it does?_

 

“I thought you were great,” a small voice pipes up, and it’s from Jihoon.

 

“Thank you,” Minhyun returns the same smile, and he means it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So, what happens on Monday?” Sungwoon speaks up.

 

Jihoon stays silent. It’s true, that this detention session has been different from all the others. But something tells him that Monday, or even the day after is going to be no different from the rest.

 

“You want to know?” Seongwoo smiles.

 

“Nothing is going to happen. We’re going to pretend like we don’t know each other, like we don’t exist. Daniel isn’t going to say hi, neither is Minhyun,” Seongwoo tells Sungwoon. “You’re probably not brave enough to say anything to them anyway.”

 

“And maybe, you’ll catch a glimpse of Jihoon and I in the hallway as well,” Seongwoo continues. “But none of us would say hi to each other. You’ll still gossip with your friends, about how I don’t matter, and about the boy you saw Jihoon disappear with yesterday.”

 

In a small voice, Minhyun says, “You don’t have to be so mean.”

 

And Daniel backs him up, “Ong Seongwoo, why does everything you say have to be so negative and insulting?”

 

“I’m not being mean, I’m being real. The world has its fair share fake people, and I’m not going to add on to that number.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So… about the essay,” Daniel begins. “What are we going to do about it?”

 

“He didn’t say anything about submitting it on one paper,” Minhyun says, turning to Sungwoon, “You could write one on behalf of us, and we’d sign our names on the bottom.”

 

Sungwoon thinks about it, and finally asks, “Why?”

 

“Because you’re the smartest,” they all chorus.

 

“I might be the smartest,” Sungwoon shrugs. “But I never get into the top ten in class. I never get a perfect score in any test. I’m not smart, I only study hard.”

 

Seongwoo gives him a pointed look, “Do you think we care?”

 

Through the seven and a half hours Sungwoon has spent with Ong Seongwoo, he’s learnt to read between the lines. To not just see things as they are. He’s learnt to dive deeper, to hear what he really means.

 

_It doesn’t matter, we don’t need you to be the best._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hwang Minhyun,” Seongwoo greets him as soon as Minhyun enters the room.

 

“Ong Seongwoo,” Minhyun smiles.

 

Minhyun crouches down to where Seongwoo is sitting, and just observes his face. The way his eyes, nose and lips go so perfectly together.

 

Seongwoo just lets him stare, like he’s gotten so used to people staring at him, he just doesn’t care anymore.

 

“Did you really not like my singing?” Minhyun asks.

 

For the first time, Minhyun thinks he sees Seongwoo looking uncertain. Like he doesn’t know how he should reply – and he’s Ong Seongwoo, that same one who has an answer for everything, even if the answer isn’t pretty.

 

“I think you were born to sing,” Seongwoo finally replies.

 

And that alone is enough for Minhyun to cup Seongwoo’s face in his hands and kiss him. Even now, he can still taste the weird substance from before in their mouths, and he isn’t sure if it’s coming from Seongwoo or him, but he doesn’t care.

 

Seongwoo’s arm wraps nicely around Minhyun’s waist, and pulls him even closer.

 

“Why’d you do that?” Seongwoo asks when they separate.

 

“Because I didn’t think you’d do it first,” Minhyun confesses. “And maybe, I was thinking. We could do _that_.”

 

“ _That_?” Seongwoo smiles. “Like more weed?”

 

Minhyun chuckles, and bumps their foreheads together lightly.

 

“Maybe a little _less_ weed, and _more_ of you listening to me sing, and _more_ of me taking you out for a meal, and _more_ of whatever we were doing earlier.”

 

Seongwoo gives Minhyun his answer by kissing him again.

 

“That sounds like a good plan,” Minhyun hears him mumble into their kiss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon knows exactly where Mr Lee keeps their phones. So, he grabs the box from under a counter in the corner. He grabs his own, puts it into his pocket.

 

He hands Sungwoon his phone, and the other boy lifts his head from their essay to thank him.

 

Jihoon has no idea where Minhyun and Seongwoo are, but he really doesn’t want to know either. He just places their phones on their own tables.

 

And finally, he hands the last phone in the box to Daniel, who he finds next to a stack of books near the bookshelves in the corner.

 

“Your phone,” Jihoon says, and Daniel accepts it with a smile that Jihoon wants to look at for more than a mere second, but decides it’s not going to be good for either of them.

 

He’s Park Jihoon, and that’s Kang Daniel.

 

They’re on completely different levels, and Jihoon should be ashamed that he’s even thinking of that.

 

He whips out his phone while walking away from Daniel, and finds a series of messages from unknown numbers, some asking whether he’s free to meet up tonight. Some are curt and get straight to the point, some beat around the bush but Jihoon knows what they all really want.

 

His brain tells him _no_.

 

But his heart tells him _yes_.

 

“Jihoon,” he hears Daniel coming from behind, and hides his phone behind his back.

 

Daniel scrutinizes Jihoon, and grabs the phone from his hands.

 

“Give it back,” Jihoon says. “ _Now_ , Kang Daniel.”

 

Daniel holds it out of reach, and types furiously on his phone.

 

“Don’t answer messages like that anymore,” Daniel says, handing Jihoon’s phone back to him. “I deleted and blocked all of those numbers.”

 

“And why would you do that?” Jihoon panics.

 

_He’s going to be alone tonight, with no one to text or call or meet. All because of Kang Daniel-_

 

“Park Jihoon,” Daniel says, more seriously. “You don’t want them, do you?”

 

“Who am I to say who I want and who I don’t?” Jihoon yells. “I _don’t_ have a choice!”

 

“You have a choice now!” Daniel grabs his shoulder.

 

Jihoon can’t believe he sees tears forming at the end of Daniel’s eyes when he utters his next words.

 

“And I’m begging you, please choose me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You don’t want that,” Jihoon snaps.

 

“I don’t want just your body,” Daniel hisses. “I want you. Everything, that comes along with Park Jihoon. I want it.”

 

Jihoon purses his lips together, his grip tightening around his phone. In front of him, is Kang Daniel, captain of the school’s football team, and the most popular person in their entire school, and he is pleading with Jihoon to choose him.

 

“And if you don’t choose me,” Daniel’s voice is shaky. “At least don’t choose them. Choose someone that will love you for who you really are.”

 

“Why?” Jihoon asks. “Why _me_?”

 

“You know me,” Daniel urges. “You know more of me than anyone else in my life right now.”

 

Jihoon tiptoes, and pulls Daniel closer so that their lips crash together – and it’s different. Jihoon doesn’t feel like he’s the only one giving. With Daniel, he’s receiving as well.

 

And the way Daniel’s hand rests on his back gently tells Jihoon that maybe Daniel is telling the truth after all.

 

“That was my second kiss with a boy,” Daniel grins when they part to take a breath. “You?”

 

Jihoon chuckles, “The first one.”

 

Daniel frowns, “Liar.”

 

“You didn’t even let me finish my sentence,” Jihoon snaps back, but with no menace.

 

And with a softer voice, he says, “ _The first one I’ve liked_.”

 

He expects Daniel to kiss him again, but all he does is pull Jihoon into his embrace and wraps his arms around his back.

 

 _This feels nice_ , Jihoon thinks. Being hugged.

 

“Come to my game,” Daniel says. “And then we’ll get chicken for dinner to celebrate my win.”

 

Jihoon lifts his head to look at Daniel.

 

“How do you know you’re going to win?”

 

“If you’re going to be there,” Daniel brushes Jihoon’s bangs away to give his forehead a kiss. “Then I’m going to win.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Let yourselves out,” Seongwoo announces once it the clock shows 5pm.

 

Sungwoon grins, finishes up the last sentence and places it nicely on his table, admiring the five signatures at the end. On second thought, his signature doesn’t look as cool as next to the other four.

 

That’s probably what he’s going to do tonight, make a new signature for himself.

 

“Hey nerd! Stop comparing yourself to us,” Seongwoo yells from the door, a giggly Minhyun by his side. “Because you’ll always find yourself losing.”

 

Sungwoon just shakes his head and laughs.

 

 _Okay_ , maybe he’s not going to change his signature. On third thought, his signature looks cute.

 

“Get out,” he hears Seongwoo snap from the door at Daniel and Jihoon, who give him a frown and Jihoon smiles when Daniel wraps and arm around his waist and nuzzles his neck. The two disappear from sight soon enough.

 

“Keep up, nerd,” Seongwoo says as a goodbye. “I think someone’s here to see you.”

 

Sungwoon stops packing his bag and looks up, and sees a familiar face at the door. A face that makes his heart skip two beats.

 

Seongwoo and Minhyun wave goodbye from the entrance. Well, Minhyun waves goodbye. Seongwoo just gives him the finger.

 

“Taehyun,” Sungwoon gulps. “W-what are you doing here?”

 

“I’m so, so fucking sorry for not turning up that day, my sister was sick and my parents were at work. I was too scared to come up to you and apologise, can I please make it up to you?”

 

Sungwoon looks at the essay on his table, and back to Taehyun.

 

Maybe Sungwoon just has a really soft heart. Or maybe it’s the black denim jacket that Taehyun is wearing.

 

As with the four people that he’s met today, Sungwoon thinks that everyone deserves a second chance at making things better. And that includes himself. He’s not going to sit around and complain about his situation – not when he has the power to change it.

 

“Yeah,” Sungwoon finally smiles. “What can I say? You got me at a good time.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seongwoo can hardly believe that Minhyun is smiling back at him right now.

 

“So… do you want to go home?” Seongwoo looks at Daniel and Jihoon who are walking towards the bus stop together.

 

“Not really,” Minhyun fiddles with the hem of his shirt, looking troubled at the sound of going home.

 

“What a coincidence,” Seongwoo pulls Minhyun closer by his waist. “Me neither.”

 

“That’s a relief,” Minhyun smiles, “Where to?”

 

“ _Anywhere_.”

 

And even neither of them feel like going home right now, they can try and make a home out of each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You _will_ get talked about,” Jihoon says, adding on to the list of things Daniel doesn’t have to hear from Jihoon to already know. “People will gossip, your position in the team might be affected. And you might lose your scholarship.”

 

“What? From being gay?” Daniel innocently bats his eyelids at Jihoon. “You didn’t seem to care before, why the sudden change now?”

 

“Because before it was just me,” Jihoon purses his lips. “And now you’re in the picture. I can deal with hurting myself, but not you.”

 

This – is what Daniel has been searching for his entire life. Just someone that will love and care for him wholeheartedly as he is, and to accept his flaws and work to make him a better person.

 

“I’m more worried about you,” Daniel says, leading Jihoon onto the bus, and allowing him to sit on the side. “Woojin and Donghan are going to be there. And.”

 

Daniel’s breath hitches.

 

“And probably a lot of boys you’ve been with before,” Daniel finishes.

 

He’s not going to say it doesn’t bother him, because it does.

 

“Those were strictly no strings attached,” Jihoon clarifies. “This is different.”

 

“Different how?” Daniel prompts.

 

“This,” Jihoon looks at Daniel. “Is _all_ strings attached. Only if you want it to be.”

 

And Daniel beams. He circles an arm around Jihoon’s shoulder, and leans Jihoon’s head on his left shoulder. Jihoon’s probably tired, from last night, and today. Still, he’s coming with Daniel to his game, even if he knows he’s going to get talked about.

 

And so is Daniel, really. He knows he’s going to get shit from his parents and his friends.

 

But at the very least, he feels safe and comfortable.

 

Because he’s not going to lie that he’s perfect. He’s not. Daniel has made many mistakes in his life, but now, he’s one step closer to making up for them. Jihoon isn’t perfect either, but together, they’re trying to find common ground.

 

“I want that,” Daniel means it. “I really do.”

 

‘Good,” Jihoon replies. “Because I want that too.”

 

Their fingers intertwine, hearts beat as one, and Daniel knows they’re going to be okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Dear Mr. Lee, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong._

_But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions._

_But what we found out is that each one of us is a nerd._

_A football captain._

_An insecure romantic._

_A mummy’s boy._

_And a hopeless criminal._

_Does that answer your question?_

_Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club._

**Author's Note:**

> it's over????
> 
> thank you for making it to the end. as always with writing an au from my favorite shows, there's always pressure to live up to the expectations of the actual show. i do hope i did the show and the characters justice. 
> 
> i'd just like to thank you all for always supporting whatever i write and please rest assured that i love writing, it makes me happy, and i will continue to write. your support makes the journey easier and a lot more rewarding so thank _you_! for reading :D 
> 
> if you didn't already know, i now have twitter, and you can find me @bapaldeul to yell at me or whatever.
> 
> do leave a comment if you enjoyed this story in one way or another! 
> 
> take care!! i love you all <3


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